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Bruins edge Sabres for 10th straight win

Wednesday, 08.06.2014 / 4:50 AM

The defending Stanley Cup champs made it 10 wins in as many games by rallying from a pair of two-goal deficits to beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 in a shootout on Wednesday night. Benoit Pouliot's goal in the fifth round of the tiebreaker kept the Bruins perfect for November as they prepare to host Detroit on Friday in the Discover NHL Thanksgiving Showdown (1 p.m. ET; NBC, TSN). It's their first 10-game winning streak since Dec. 12, 2008-Jan. 1, 2009.

"We don't discuss it hardly at all," goaltender Tim Thomas said of the streak. "I don't think about it at all until I'm reminded of it."

"I was happy not to miss it," Pouliot said. "Everyone was shooting low, so I shot high and it went in."

Thomas made 31 saves as the Bruins won the first meeting between the teams since Milan Lucic bowled over Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller 11 days ago – Miller is still sidelined due to a concussion from the incident.

The Sabres didn't go after Lucic then, but the First Niagara Center rocked when Paul Gaustad squared off with Lucic 83 seconds after the opening faceoff. Lucic got the better of the exchange.

"I still to this day still say it was a collision (with Miller), but when you do something like that you always prepare to step up and fight for yourself," Lucic said.

"There wasn't much of a conversation, it was just straight to the point. It was actually probably good on both ends just to get it out of the way off the start, then just move on."

A 10-player scrum with 8:27 left to go in the opening period saw Boston captain Zdeno Chara and Buffalo defenseman Robyn Regehr square off -- but Boston defenseman Adam McQuaid earned a double minor after cross-checking Gaustad.

Buffalo defenseman Christian Ehrhoff made him pay 23 seconds later by beating Thomas with a slap shot from the right point to stake the Sabres to a 1-0 lead. It was the first goal allowed by the Bruins in 174 minutes and 7 seconds -- Thomas blanked the New York Islanders and Montreal in Boston's two previous games. The goal snapped Thomas' road shutout run at 234:05, and his overall shutout streak was stopped at 145 minutes.

Thomas Vanek made it 2-0 at 15:22 with a power-play goal, beating Thomas with a wrister from the high slot.

The Bruins got on the board 3:37 into the second period when Tyler Seguin one-timed a shot in from the left point past Jhonas Enroth on the power play. It was Seguin's 12th of the season -- one more than he scored all last season after the Bruins made him the second pick in the 2010 NHL Draft.

Rookie T.J. Brennan, playing his first NHL game, restored the Sabres' two-goal lead at 11:02 by beating Thomas with a wrist shot from the right circle.

Brad Marchand made it 3-2 with 4 minutes remaining in the middle period, lifting a wrist shot in from a tight angle to the left of Enroth.

Tempers flared again late in the second period when Buffalo's Drew Stafford bumped into Thomas. Boston defenseman Andrew Ference immediately grabbed Stafford and the two began to wrestle.

Chara tied the game at 3-3 with a power-play goal 3:35 into the third period.

"We just needed to take a few deep inhales and exhales and needed to calm down," Chara said. "Going into the third we played our game."

Enroth, making his fifth straight start since Miller’s concussion, finished with 36 saves.

"I was happy with how we played," Ruff said. "We worked hard, and we answered every call."

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